Amber Light
by M-Angel 05
Summary: What if Zeno had appeared before the night Su-won killed King Il and helped Hak and Yona escape? What if he was forced to reveal who and what he was to them then? How would they have reacted? (Gem Series 6)
1. Loss

**Chapter 1**: _Loss_

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Blue eyes stared in shock at what was laid out before him. His friend, his King, the Red Dragon, Hiryuu was dead. His skin pale, even more so than Seiryuu Abi's. His radiant red hair was a dull color of red. Something hot fell down his face. It took the owner of those blue eyes to realize that he, Ouryuu Zeno, was crying. Pressure unlike anything her ever felt before began to press against his chest and the tears began to flow freely. He couldn't stop them either. Falling to his knees next to his blue haired companion, Zeno wailed liked a newborn. His whole body shaking and quivering as his emotions overwhelmed him. This would be the first of many times he would do this, crying so openly for all to see and hear him.

The next time he cried was ten years later when he felt Guen's light vanish. He knew that his oldest brother was fading in life. It was why he never went to see him. Out of everyone, Guen would have been the hardest to see. When the white flame finally vanished from his sight, Zeno felt an emptiness appear inside of himself. He looked at the oncoming enemy army, one man standing against them. He picked up his sword and began killing anything in sight. By the end of the battle, Zeno was crying like a baby. The emotional storm inside of him burst out as he stood in his enemies blood in the middle of a bloodsoaked field.

The third time was when he felt Abi go. He had been on his way towards his blue haired brother's encampment. The moment he felt Abi's light vanish, he felt the strength in his body leave him. He sat where he had fallen for a week. The whole time he cried for the gentle man he had known as a brother and friend. The one person who had taken him asside and taught him how to read and write, just because Abi didn't want him to be cheated when he dealt with merchants.

The fourth time was for Shuten. As mean or as drunken as Shuten could get he was still his dragon brother; something Shuten always denied. He always teased Zeno about being the King's favorite; something Zeno always denied being. He cried longer for the green haired man than he had for either of the other two, he couldn't explain why either.

He wondered the country afterwards. He refused to pick up a sword again. With everyone gone, why bother. Zeno had asked for years what was his power? Other than self healing, what good was he on a battlefield? However, once everyone was gone it became apparent what his power was. In his fiftieth year of life, thirty odd years of that as a dragon warrior, Zeno realized that he hadn't aged since drinking the blood. He was the eternal dragon. The one warrior who would live forever, no matter what. Exhausted he fell against the ground and cried inwardly for himself, as he would never see his brothers ever again.

Then he met Kaya. She saved him. Took care of him and he took care of her. She was the reasoning behind his next tears. As her sickness took her from him for eternity. He cried for her the longest. He held her body until it was nothing but bones.

It was just as he was about to begin trying to kill himself again that he felt them, the lights of his brothers. He went searching, but each time he found them he was chased off. His brother's powers had been passed onto the next generation. As he was thinking about this and it's meaning, Zeno came to realize that this must have meant that Hiryuu would return. Looking up at the sky he saw the King's star and knew it to be true. Decision made, Zeno nodded to himself as he made a promise to find and protect Hiryuu, no matter what.

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**M-Angel**: I hope everyone's Labor Day Weekend is going well. I decided to post this today and see how well it was received. I'll be posting chapters on and off for it as I finish up my other stories.


	2. Forever Changed

**Chapter 2**: _Forever Changed_

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_Cute!_ That was the first thought that came to Ouryuu Zeno's brain when he saw the newly born red haired baby that laid in the bed across from her parents room. The nurse laid fast asleep in a chair nearby with a blanket over her lap. Suddenly violet eyes opened and looked into side blue eyes. Zeno felt his cheeks flush at the adorable look his King was giving him. Weak limbs moved as the baby tried to reach out towards Zeno. Picking the baby up Zeno whispered to his king. "Zeno waited for you to come back your majesty." Tears pooled in his eyes. "Zeno waited a very long time." It was then that Zeno smelt something and knew the baby needed a changing. Wanting just a few more moments with his king, he went to change the babe. "Zeno swears to protect you. This time I know what I can do." He promised this as he undressed the baby. When he took the diaper off, Zeno blinked in surprise. He wasn't expecting that. A smile broke out across his face as he cleaned the tiny little baby girl up. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" The little one just cooed softly; though happily, at him.

Zeno could see Shuten making jokes about this one. Guen would scold him of course, though trying to hold his own laughter back. Abi would call them both idiots, while smiling the whole time. Zeno's shoulders shook as laughter tried to escape. Clamping it down tightly Zeno laid the baby girl down.

It didn't matter to Zeno what sex his king was. Hiryuu was Hiryuu no matter what form he took upon himself. Though now born as a female, this meant Zeno would have to protect her from unwanted attention. Rapes were so common in this era and without proper protection from those around her, a young girl could become a victim to malicious attacks so easily. So as Zeno placed his baby king back in her crib, he made it his mission to ensure she'd always be safe. Now, who could be trust to do it for him when he couldn't?

Only one name came to mind. Son Mundok. Thinking back, Zeno could recall hearing that her become the Wind Tribe chief sometime ago. _If Zeno remembers correctly_, he thought as he snuck back out of the room the same way her come. _Mundok now has a grandson around the Miss' age, if not a little older._ Zeno took the same route out of the palace that her taken before, many eons ago. Secret chambers and tunnels led him to an outside escape route that had been forgotten by time. Once outside the walls of the Kuuto, Zeno made his way to Fuuga to speak with an old friend.

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6 years later

Yona's eyes opened. Yesterday had been h orrible! She'd almost gotten herself kid knapped, father had been worried and wor se of all Hak had gone back to Fuuga wit h Mundok. She was so upset right now. A part of her stated that at least Su-won hadn't been sent back home to stay with his mother. Sighing she sat up in bed b ut gasped as she noticed that it wasn't her room. Frightened she pulled her legs up to her chest. The room was massive! Tall columns of gold with red tapestry w ere at each corner of the room. The wal ls were painted with beautiful but frigh tening scenes of men fighting. Blue, gre en, yellow, and white dragons were paint ed on the ceiling. To her right a slid ing door was cracked open.

Getting out of bed, she walked over to t he door and pushed it open a bit more be fore stepping out. Outside was a beautif ul garden filled with blooming sakura tr ees, plums trees full of open buds and a small pond near the walkway. Walking up to the edge of t he walkway out of her room she looked i nto the pond next to the railing of the walkway. In the pond were beautiful shim mering koi.

A sudden noise caused her to look upward s towards the blue sky just in time to s ee a red dragon come down and land in th e garden. Blossom petals fluttered every which way causing a dazzling effect to place around the large beast. The dragon had a yellow/golden chest that puffed out as it breathed. His red mane on his head blew about it as the wind teased it. That was whe n she felt a hand touch her shoulder. St artled she jumped slightly before turnin g to see a red haired man with violet ey es. The same violet as her own and equal ly the same color as the dragon.

What was going on here? Who was this man? Why was there a dragon standing there? Just as the man went to speak everything melted away.

Bleary eyes opened. The ceiling above her was the same one she'd known since she could recall anything in her life. Yona sat up in bed. Her hair standing up in odd angles. Her dream stood out in her mind for the moment. What did it mean? Should she tell her father about it? She wasn't certain. She knew her father was going to be busy today, especially since he'd held off several meeting with the noble clans due to her misadventure yesterday. Sighing, Yona began to feel sad.

The doors to her bedroom opened revealing a chunky older woman who had several servants behind her. The older woman began to order the servants about. Two servants went up to Yona and helped her out of bed, as two others made her bed. She was bathed, dressed and made presentable in minutes. She barely got two words out in all of the commotion. She was then taken to another room where she ate by herself. Su-won wasn't even present. She was so confused. She always had breakfast with her family. After breakfast she was taken to see her new teacher who would begin teaching Yona how to be presentable to those around her.

If she spoke out of turn, Yona was yelled at harshly or worse, not allowed to eat lunch and would have extra lessons pushed on her. The idea was to bring the harsh reality down upon her. That she was expected to do certain things, act a certain way and only speak when spoken to. She was constantly watched. Punished for acting out of place. She almost never saw her father between the ages of six and eight.

During this time Yona began to feel like a small piece of herself was being crushed. She never saw Hak or Su-won any more, even after Uncle Yu-hon's death. She missed her cousin and friend. The fun days they always had together seemed like a distant memory.

On her eighth birthday things suddenly changed.

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**M-Angel**: Sorry for the late update on this story. I was trying to have it updated by the first of the month but that turned out to be impossible. The last month and a half have been so hectic for me, only in the last week or so have things started to return to normal. Hopefully this means regular updates on all of my stories.


	3. Big Brother Ouryuu

**Chapter 3**: _Big Brother Ouryuu_

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Zeno had been away from Kuuto for a long time, mostly he had been looking out for the other dragon warriors. Brother Ryokuryuu was giving him a headache. The boy had escaped his confinement in his village and was constantly on the move. Seiryuu was hidden away and Hakuryuu was basically being worshipped as a god and thus was being overly protected by his village. It made his head hurt at how different each village treated their guardian. Returning to check on little Miss gave him something to look forward to. Her smiles and laughter as she played with her friends, he couldn't wait to see her.

The celebrations for the red haired princess were already on the way as Zeno entered Kuuto. The town was in full swing of the joyous occasion. Highly decorated with children laughing and playing in the streets. Guards were on the walls but looked relaxed.

Zeno grinned happily as he walked through the town. Everything seemed alright. He almost stayed to enjoy the festivities. However, before he could settle down, Zeno had to see the Princess. He knew she was probably playing with her cousin or the wind general's grandson, but he could always spy on her from afar. Climbing through the badly degraded tunnels under the palace, Zeno came out into the royal family's personal gardens. Zeno could spot the large ponds that Shuten had created when he had been testing out his new dragon leg and the even larger pool that had been created when Guen had punched Shuten for testing the leg out. Grinning at the memories, Zeno threw his arms over his head as he strolled through the gardens unseen because of the foliage.

Zeno then spotted her, Princess Yona was hiding behind several bushes with her legs tucked under her. Her dress was ripped at the hem and her right sleeve had been ripped. Her arm had adult hand sized bruises on it, but what caught Zeno's attention wasn't these things it was the fact the Yona was crying softly, as if she was trying to not be heard.

Anger filled Zeno. Feeling an unbelievable amount of anger, Zeno wanted to know who had done this to his King! Without thought of the reprucusions, Zeno ran up to her, wrapped his arms around her and held her as she cried.

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Yona had thought she'd found the perfect hiding place. Mistress Thessia was the worst person to ever live. She mistreated Yona and what was ever worse than that was that her father, King Il didn't seem to notice! So now she cried and cried and cried even harder than before. Her chest hurt from crying so much. She hadn't see Hak or Su-won in years. Her soul felt like it was being stomp on because of how lonely she felt. The beatings didn't help. The newest means of abuse was the whipping she'd received on her bottom if she didn't sit correctly and if she began crying in front of her etiquette teacher she'd be smacked by Thessia later and locked in her room for a day or two.

Keeping a hand over her mouth to not be hear, Yona cried out of shear desperation. She couldn't runaway. She couldn't fight back. She had nobody to tell what was happening to her. She had no way to escape this horrible nightmare that had become her life!

Suddenly she felt an unbelievable warmth surround her. It was warm, gentle and smelt like sunshine. Her tears began to dry up as she clung to the person this feeling of safety was coming from. As she pulled back to look at the person holding her, one word came to mind; Ouryuu.

The person before her had bright yellow hair, as bright as the sun. He had blue eyes that held a gentle kindness to them. His clothes were rags and smelt bad; but it was a warm spring day. So she dismissed that. He had puffy cheeks, and wasn't thin. His smile though made her feel as if everything was going to be alright.

"Little Miss, who's been hurting you?" his voice was filled with concern. Those words meant so much to Yona and that was what broke the dam once more. As she cried she told him everything! How could she not?

Though her voice cracked, and sometimes her crying was too much for him to understand her words, Zeno got the gist of things. From what he understood, Yona had snuck out of the palace with her friend Hak and cousin Su-won. She'd been kidnapped and Hak had saved her. The children had been punished, as they should've been. However, Yona hadn't seen either for years, had been put under the care of a woman named Thessia who was abusing Yona.

"Zeno will make sure Little Miss isn't ever hurt again." he promised.

"Zeno?" Yona's voice questioned. "Zeno is Ouryuu Zeno, are you not?" Zeno froze at those words. "I feel it here." She pointed at her heart.

"Yes." he answered as he stood up. "Zeno is Ouryuu."

Yona stared up at him. "Then you're my big brother?"

Zeno smiled down at her. "Yes." He then touched the crown of her head. "And as your big brother I will protect you."

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**M-Angel**: So I'm back to writing this story again. Updates might be sporadic but there will be updates, I promise! ^_^


	4. Warning

**Chapter 4**:_ Warning _

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Zeno stalked the halls of the palace in servant clothes. After finding Yona crying, he had taken her back to her room and laid out new clothes for her to wear. He then told her not to allow anyone inside and left her to speak to someone important. Peering around a corner into the garden where the princesses party was occurring, Zeno looked through the crowd until he saw who he was looking for. The young man, Son Hak and Yona's cousin, Su-won who both sat near General Son Mundok. Walking over to the general, Zeno poured him some more sake before he spoke.

"Do you remember Zeno, general?" he inquired as he looked at the seated general.

Neither of the boys seemed to hear Zeno as he spoke. "Of course." Mundok answered as he eyed the youthful man next to him.

"Zeno asked you to ensure Princess Yona was safe by having Mister protect her." Zeno grew serious as he looked at the older man. "You have failed this." If looks could kill, Zeno had a look in his eyes that would have melted the general in his place. He went to respond only for Zeno to continue. "You are forcing Zeno to reveal himself sooner than need be. Little Miss is being hurt by those around her. Ouryuu is angry about this."

"Hak is being trai-" Mundok began but was stopped by Zeno.

"Too late." Zeno then stood up and left Mundok where he was. There was one thing Zeno wouldn't allow and that was incompetence that would lead to his King being hurt.

Returning to Yona's side, he found her waiting in her room. Upon calling a young servant girl into the room, Zeno asked her to dress Yona in an undamaged kimono dress. The young girl didn't seem to bat an eye at the request, revealing to Zeno at how often this occurred. This both angered and saddened him even further. His King didn't deserve this.

Zeno wanted to steal her away and take her somewhere safer, but he knew the trouble this would cause. He also knew he couldn't contact his brothers yet. Ryokuryuu was defiant in that he never wanted his freedom taken away from him ever again. Hakuryuu was so protected and if Yona was seen by the villagers she would be worshipped as a god. Seiryuu was in a somewhat similar position as Yona. So it wouldn't be good to contact them; yet.

This meant that Ouryuu Zeno had to make an appearance, but how? Zeno could see a few ways he could reveal himself to King Il, who undoubtedly would left him protect Yona if it meant keeping her safe. Zeno's thoughts were derailed as Yona came out of her room in a pretty royal purple kimono with tiny red flowers embroidered into the material. Her hair was tied up, revealing her pretty little face. Holding out his hand, he led Yona to her party.

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Zeno found a good spot to wait after the party was over. Yona had acted as if nothing was wrong after finding Hak and Su-won, but Zeno had noticed her smiles were a bit forced. She was pretending to be happy, but she was truly sad. Once the party was over King Il retired to his private rooms. Zeno waited up in the rafters until the King was by himself. Upon jumping out of his hiding place, he found himself on the other end of the King's sword.

"Zeno means no harm to the King," he said before his voice became serious. "however, Ouryuu Zeno is very upset with his majesty."

Il's eyes widened. "Ouryuu?" he questioned in disbelief.

"Little Miss has been mistreated by those you have placed around her." Zeno's eyes narrowed at him. "Zeno cannot allow this to continue to happen. Remove them or Zeno will remove her from your possession."

Il thrust his sword forward, causing Zeno to grasp the blade. Blood dripped down the blade. "I won't let you touch my daughter!" Zeno removed his hand from the blade and showed Il his hand. Il's eyes widened as he watched muscle and skin repair itself in an instant before golden scales covered the once bleeding wound.

"As Ouryuu it's my duty to ensure she lives, and if that means I must remove her from your care;" Zeno stated as his anger became more apparent. "so be it."

Il dropped his sword, which clanged to the ground. He didn't want to believe it, at first; but now that he had seen the young man heal instantly...Ouryuu. This boy was Ouryuu. One of the four dragon warriors of myth and legend. That was when Il's mind realized that if this boy was Ouryuu, then that meant his beloved daughter truly was being hurt by someone. "Who is hurting my child?"

Zeno felt relief that Il wasn't going to call his bluff in taking Yona from the palace but instead believed him that she was being abused in some way or form. He knew Il was a believer, otherwise he would never have married Lady Kashi. Zeno sighed before telling the King exactly what Yona had told him, along with seeing the bruises on her arms. It was now up to his majesty to correct a wrong. "If her companions are returned to her and young Hak is made her guardian, Zeno will leave." Il seemed to want to say no on this. "Otherwise Zeno will still remove her."

King Il knew the boy could probably take Yona any way and Il would never find her. The four dragons had hidden themselves away for centuries without being detected by anyone. This meant they were experts in making themselves and others disappear. "I will talk to General Mundok about his grandson becoming Yona's guardian."

"Good." Zeno turned to leave. "I'll be watching." He warned as he climbed out of the open window and made a mad dash across the King's private gardens, vanishing into the night.

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**M-Angel**: Sorry that I have been MIA on this story. I have been working on my Bleach stories; mostly Double Trouble. I will try to keep up with this story.


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